score:
0

Has anyone ever *trained* a dog to tolerate or love fireworks?

Hi all! One of my dogs has gotten much worse about fireworks over the last few years (she's only 3.5). When she was younger, she didn't like them, but she improved a bit when we took her for walks as they were going off (trying to keep her moving instead of hiding). That seemed to help at the time. We haven't lived in areas that fireworks can be heard for a couple years, and it seems she's really regressed in that time. Now she cowers, pants, and refuses to go outside, and she's usually such a confident dog so I really don't like seeing her like this. I want to fix the root of the problem, instead of using avoidance techniques like white noise, closing curtains, etc. I want her to be comfortable with firework sounds. I also can't imagine something like a thundershirt helping her specifically.
I've trained her to love vacuum cleaners, but I can control that noise, whereas fireworks are more random, which I think contributes to the problem - she doesn't know when they're going to happen. She's very food driven, but I can't give her many treats because she has gastritis and may start throwing up.
Has anyone successfully trained or desensitized their dog to firework noises? I'm considering using the YouTube fireworks desensitization videos, but she's already freaked out, so I'm curious if I should use them during the daytime or pair the videos with something else. Suggestions?
Thanks!

Comments

Don't know if this will help, but we trained our hunting dogs to not be afraid of gunshots by shooting a starting pistol around them. They soon realized that the noise would not hurt them. They don't seem concerned with fireworks and we live in a state where fireworks are legal to set off over 4th.

1 Answer

Sort by » oldest newest most voted
score:
2

The older my dogs get, the more freaked out they are by fireworks. They actually have a prescription for Trazodone they take on July4th or NYE.

I am a fan of Victoria Stilwell, so here is a little article about dogs : https://positively.com/victorias-blog...

Comments

Lenka, that’s really interesting. I will have to ask my vet about the Trazadone. My 11 yr old lab and Pitt mix is terrified and would crawl inside me if he could.😁. Thanks for that helpful piece of information.